User:EHershenov (WMF)
About me
I joined the Wikimedia Foundation as General Counsel in May 2017. Prior to moving out to the Bay Area to take this job, I worked for 18 months as Of Counsel for a media law firm in New York City, where among other things I litigated copyright, defamation and other free expression and media law claims. From 2005 - 2015 I served as the Vice President and General Counsel to Consumer Reports, the largest consumer advocacy, testing and publishing organization in the U.S. Before that I was General Counsel for the Open Society Foundations (Soros Foundations) for close to a decade, focusing on not-for-profit law, human rights law, publishing and licensing, media law, employment and intellectual property. At OSF I supported foundations or affiliates in over 30 countries.
I began my legal career as a clerk for the federal district court judge best known for handling of northern desegregation cases and mass torts cases. I then worked for the ACLU on national security, immigration and other civil rights and liberties cases, after which I worked for some years at a large national law firm, focusing on copyright and trademark matters, as well as handling a large pro bono docket in civil rights and liberties matters.
I graduated from Yale College (economics) and Yale Law School. I'm relatively new to the Wikimedia community, but have started editing some articles! In my spare time I'm raising two children and two dogs, write book reviews for thenationalbookreview.com and serve on a couple of not-for-profit boards. I used to scuba dive a great deal, but the biggest hobby now is reading.
My work
I oversee the work of the Foundation's legal department, which includes contracts, content, trademarks, privacy and security, public policy, employment matters, community questions, product counseling, litigation, support for the board, and a number of other areas.
Contact me
ehershenov@wikimedia.org